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11 July, 2007
The 20-million-member ICEM joined North American-affiliated trade union United Steelworkers (USW) in congratulating agricultural workers at the Firestone Rubber Plantation in Harbel, Liberia, in their historic vote early this week.
Some 4,700 members of the newly-chartered Firestone Agriculture Workers Union (FAWU) of Liberia chose their union leadership on Sunday, 8 July 2007, in an election that marked the first time in the 85-year history of the rubber plantation that workers elected union leaders, free of manipulation.
“We not only congratulate rubber workers’ in Liberia for this historic first, but also congratulate the USW of North America for its diligence and hard work in assuring that a free and fair vote occurred,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda.
The USW not only monitored the election, but, together with the US-based Solidarity Center, conducted training programmes, workshops, and basic trade union representation methods to Firestone plantation workers seeking self-representation. The peaceful and transparent election also puts an end to the corrupt and undemocratic practices of the General Agriculture and Allied Workers’ Union (GAAWUL), a labour organisation that plantation managers had recognised for decades but provided little or no representation to workers.
The ICEM salutes and recognises Augustine Natee as the new president of FAWU, as well as Joseph Tarnue, Vice President; Edwin Pispo, Secretary General; Comfort Willie, Treasurer; and Abel Fallah, Grievance Chairman.
The ICEM also commends Liberia’s Labour Ministry for its decision last spring to authorise free and open elections under a special elections committee.
The Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia, now owned by Bridgestone Corp. of Japan, is a million-acre reserve in the West African country that has seen worker abuses for decades, including child labour practices, lack of adequate housing and sanitation facilities, as well as salaries as low as US$3 per day.